نشریه تاملات اخلاقی
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 5، بهار 1400)

Today, in view of the philosophers of virtue ethics, the globalized economy cannot be surrounded only by legal limits. Nor can economic crises be prevented simply by appealing to various laws and based on personal interests, but what we need is a set of moral virtues. Which virtues should govern today’s globalized economy? In response to this question, we can refer to Thomas Aquinas' moral theory, which is based on the link between virtue and justice. Aquinas is one of the famous thinkers in the Christian theology, whose view can answer many of the issues raised in economic ethics. In this article, an attempt is made to first look at how Aquinas' theory of virtue, with its emphasis on the natural light of reason, can be effective for all humans, religions, and non-believers. It is then strived to explain how Aquinas' theory of natural right unites virtue and justice. Finally, the challenge between cultural diversity and ethical unity in today’s globalized economy is addressed.

One of the latest advances in biotechnology is genetically modified (GM) foods. The production of GM foods is a controversial issue worldwide. The most important and controversial issue in the production of GM foods is ethics. Some people believe that their production is morally right, while others consider the production of these foods to be unjustified and immoral. According to the principle of beneficence, proving the ethics of producing GM foods is only possible by carefully evaluating its advantages and disadvantages and the superiority of the benefits. Opponents believe that the production of this type of food has irreparable disadvantages, some of which are known and some are still unknown. Damage to human health and the environment and the creation of economic, social and political problems are among the most important reasons for opposition. On the other hand, proponents of the production of GM foods enumerate significant advantages. Solving the problem of global hunger, improving the quality of food, and improving the economic situation of farmers are among the most important reasons for the proponents of the morality of the production of GM foods. In the present study, the reasons of the proponents of GM food production are examined and criticized through descriptive and analytical methods. Studies show that although the production of GM foods is associated with significant benefits, there are drawbacks to the opponents’ reasons, and the production of GM foods requires more research and experiments.

This paper discuss moral judgment of lying from Kant’s point of view. According to Kant, Lying is a great vice and the key of all evils. He define lying as “to tell something which is not in your heart”. Most of the people think that lying is wrong due to its harms to others, but Kant says that lying is wrong even if it does have any harm to others and has been told by good intention. He knows lying wrong because of destroying human worth. He counts not telling the lie as a perfect human duty to others and to oneself. The main question of this research is this: is lying prohibited absolutely from Kant’s view or he permits some kind of lies?  The result of this research shows Kant has different views on lying in his different works. He permits some kind of lies in his former works like Lectures on Ethics and says that lying and deception is permitted in defense of oneself. But, in his later works like Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Motives”, Kant makes lying absolutely prohibited.

The divine command theory is one of the most well-known deontological ethics theories that has always numerous interpretations. The interpretations of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions of the command of God are according to the attributes that each religion has proved in its sacred texts and theological discussions. They consider the relationship between the moral and the divine as logical and necessary or as metaphysical and moral necessity. Explaining the relationship between the religious and moral command and the precedence of religion over morality requires various arrangements to finally justify a particular type of precedence historically, metaphysically, epistemologically, and conceptually or semantically. The divine command theory of Robert Adams is one of the modified examples of the theory of divine command in the contemporary period, which tries to reconstruct the weaknesses and shortcomings of the basic theories of divine command and justify the semantic precedence of religion over morality by relying on a metaphysical principle rooted in the particular conception of man's relationship with God. This approach has been formed according to the moral obligation and such concepts and has tried to defend the divine command theory by correcting semantic positions. From this point of view, in the obligation arising from wrong, an action is wrong only if it opposes the divine command or the divine will. The legitimacy of these commands also stems from the command of the God of love, which is a special relationship between the religious person and God.

Today, the phenomenon of social deterioration is considered as one of the problems and dark corners of organizational life that results from continuous and forced organizational interaction. Considering that social deterioration is an organizational problem with irreparable consequences and reduces organizational capacity and hinders human resource development, this study is conducted to help managers and reduce the negative effects of social deterioration. Accordingly, it is aimed to examine the impact of social deterioration on employees’ procrastination. To this end, three main hypotheses and three sub-hypotheses are proposed. The research method is descriptive-applied. Duffy et al. (2002) scale is used to measure social deterioration and a questionnaire developed by Schwazer and Dale (2000) is used to measure the variable of procrastination. The statistical population of the study includes all employees and insurance agencies of Kermanshah province, Iran. Data analysis is done by independent t-test and structural equation modeling using SPSS and Smart-PLS. The results show a positive and significant relationship between employees’ social deterioration and procrastination, and there is a significant difference between men and women in the rate of social deterioration and procrastination. The results of the research help organizational managers to better understand social deterioration and make correct policy in order to reduce its negative consequences, especially to prevent the spread of procrastination among employees.

John Mackie’s viewpoint in meta-ethics is known as error theory, based on which the moral claims, in general, are exposed to errors. Mackie relies on two arguments, one of which is based on relativity and the other is based on queerness. In the first argument, he resorts to the diversity of laws and rituals in different societies. In the second one, which consists of two epistemological and metaphysical subclasses and is considered to be more important with more general usage, he argues that the objectivity of the morals in the world requires our exposure to absurd phenomena. He concludes that claiming the existence of the objective values in the world doesn't mean the utterance of a meaningless claim, yet it is completely wrong and false. Accordingly, issues such as duty, merit, virtue, and moral justification are all useless and meaningless. His viewpoint has been the object of several criticisms, some instances of which include: the scope of the realities of the things embraces the ethical values as well; difference and diversity don't require the morals to be unreal; the valued objectivity and scientific objectivity must be discriminated; it should be known that the ethical attributes can be achieved as the consequences of natural features; and the necessity of the objectivity of a concept doesn't mean that it should have an objective equivalent in our world. John Mackie's viewpoint does not seem to be the solution to the opposition and conflict between realism and anti-realism.